Chapter 11

The Observatory was full of light and silence until Mattie asked, "How did you get your locker in here?"

Thad smiled as he replied: "Carefully. I tried before and broke a toe."

"That's better than how I broke mine."

"Oh?"

"Fell off my bike."

"Ow. Get over here." He swung the door open and flashed a contraption at her – something like a flower made of forks. "OK, I need you to shut me in the locker and if I can't get out in two minutes, you need to open the locker for me."

"Okay. Question," Mattie asked, "Why am I helping you with this and not the other nerds you hang out with?"

"You didn't see the posters?" Thad asked, squinting through the slats in the locker. "It's G&G Night."

"G&G?"

"Grottos and Gremlins. You beat up imaginary enemies."

"Not your thing?"

"When I could be doing this? Of course not. Make sure you slam it!"

I've lived with Mattie and let me tell you, she's never struggled to slam a door. This was no exception. There was a yelp.

"Crap, are you okay?"

"Fine! My nose isn't broken, I'd know. OK, now lock it. I think I can get out in two minuteth."

"How?"

"This little MacGyver is going to bust me out."

"How?"

"It spins the locker dials until it gets the right combination. There's a thousand difference combinations. My last one got me out in eight minutes, this is the fifth try."

"That's still pretty good."

"Yeah, Alfred Noble didn't stop at pretty good. He stopped at dynamite."

"You're not going to blow this up, are you?"

"Not yet."

"Wait, what?"

"How long has it been?"

"Uh… fifty seconds left."

"Okay okay okay – " There was a click and Thad bounced out of the locker. "Perfect! High five!" He smacked her hand. "Now run!"

"What?"

"Run fast, that's going to explode." Without another word, he dragged her across, his own skinny legs spinning like a fan.

Boom.

A terrible stench hit the air.

"What is that?"

"Rotted eggs, garbage juice, fermented bread soup and sauerkraut past the sell-by date."

"And you put that in there knowing you might still be in there?"

"I was mostly sure."

"That's still insane."

"Only if it fails. It's a little additional to this little guy," he said, holding up the contraption. "Now whoever puts me in their locker gets a thank you."

"Oh God, I'm gonna be sick. I love it, but I'm gonna be sick."

Frowning, Thad steered Mattie by her shoulders to an open window.

"Get some air. Here, do you want this one?" he asked, holding up the thingamy.

"I'm clearly going to need it, aren't I?" she replied, touching her broken lip.

"I'm sorry for that."

"I meant more the jerks who put you in there."

"Well, now you've got help if you need it."

"And vengeance, from the smell." She tried to smile, but the stench – it took three washes to get it out of her pillow. The little edgelord let herself slip a bit: "I'm more about behind the scenes revenge."

"Like what?"

"Just stuff that can't be traced back to you but screws them over."

Thad frowned.

"You're not going to try and take over the school, are you? Because there was this weird thing last year…"

"Why would I do that?"

"I'm just saying someone tried. It was kind of a mess." Thad's eyes flickered around the room – he caught sight of an empty pot and grinned. "Wanna see something cool?"

"It's not going to stink, is it?"

"Not this one. Here, throw this." He plucked a pink square from his pocket and presented it like a jewel. Mattie held it up and glanced at him quizzically.

"It's an eraser."

"It looks like an eraser. Throw it and count to five."

"Okay… Five." With a swift loop of her arm she flung the eraser; it thunked at the bottom of the plant pot.

"Four," Thad grinned. "Three… Two… Once…"

Mattie has no eyebrows at the moment. It was not a fashion statement.